Back To Black
by blackheartXbarbells
Summary: Do second chances really exist? Does time really heal all wounds? Is it possible to create a clean slate and follow the path you always dreamed about? Follow Jenn while she tries to repave her road and career in the WWE and rebuild some things she lost along the way. WWE/AU mixture - most of the superstars will make an appearance at some point. Mostly Seth/OC. (T for language)
1. A Whole New Chapter

**Welcome! I've been toying around with the ideas for this story for many many months now and finally got "pen to paper" and got to work on it. I wanted to go ahead and get a chapter posted and test my waters, get some feedback, and see if it seems like something worth moving forward on and developing more. (I currently have 2 and 1/2 more chapters completed and sitting in my documents file...) So please read and let me know if this first piece gets you going!**

 **This story takes place in the current WWE universe with a few alternate universe spins on to fit new/OC characters and my story idea. It won't be "real time" but it's only a few months behind so it may feel like it.**

 **I do not own or have claim to anything related to WWE; all I 'own' are my original characters.**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Whole New Chapter

"Yep, thank you. Have a good morning," Jennings Gray stated to the security agent, retrieving her messenger bag that was loaded down with her laptop and travel items that weren't packed away in her suitcase that was now headed towards the carriage of a plane and her flip flops which she slipped on gracefully. She began the shuffle further into O'Hare International Airport.

She slipped her earbuds into her ears and hit the mic button on the wires. Her music immediately started blaring again and she already began to feel more relaxed.

It wasn't that she didn't like flying, or even airports. It was that it was six am and she was weary and cold and would have rather been snuggled in her bed still asleep. Duty, and work, called though; so here she was.

She started towards her terminal, letting her eyes dart around and take note of the various shops and food options in the concourses. It had been awhile since O'Hare had been her main hub and either everything had changed or she had a terrible memory.

Two things became clear, though; she didn't have to travel far to get to the terminal that was bound for Orlando, and by the grace of some higher power there was a Starbucks across the walkway from it.

 _Good,_ she thought to herself, _I can get breakfast and coffee. Perfect._

She staked out a seat by the windows overlooking the tarmac, discarding her messenger bag and jacket and made a beeline to the Starbucks.

Thirty minutes later she was a fourth of the way through her bagel and her eyes were blurring as she scrolled through an article on her iPad. That caffeine needed to kick in.

She set the device in her lap and looked up to scan the airport. It was surprisingly busy for a little after six am on a Thursday morning but it was also Chicago and it was always busy. Her eyes darted from person to person as they hurried through the concourses on the way to their various gatess. People watching at the airport was by far one of the prime people watching locations.

She did a quick double take as she looked over the people that had started to fill the seats in her terminal and then a small smile crept onto her face. There was no way she could mistake the disheveled, curly ponytail and 'the Black and the Brave' wording across the hood of a hoodie that was directly across from her.

She sat for a moment, thinking to herself, and then reached for one her Starbucks napkins before she crumpled it into a ball and bit her bottom lip before tossing it across the small space, aimed for the hood.

 _Perfect shot!_

She snickered, almost snorting, at the clearly irritated and startled look that was turned on her.

He started to speak and then paused once he started to register that he recognized his assailant.

"I was ready to throw hands at you!"

His exasperated exclamation made her laugh a little harder and she grinned.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be."

She bit her bottom lip again, trying to reign in her amusement.

"What did you throw at me anyways?" he reached back to pull his hood to the side and retrieve the napkin. He held it up and raised his eye brows at her, "really?"

"It was that or my iPad…"

"Well thank you for choosing the softer option. What…what are you doing here?"

She shrugged, "waiting for this flight to board."

He rolled his eyes slightly and she chuckled.

"Come share this bagel with me and keep me company so we aren't yelling back and forth. I promise I won't throw anything else. Consider it a peace offering."

He eyed her for a second and then turned to gather his bag and slip his phone in the pocket of his hoodie. She watched him as he rounded the row of seats and then settled himself next to her.

She offered up a half of her bagel as he situated himself and got comfortable.

"What kind of cream cheese is this?"

"Honey pecan, it's delicious."

"I didn't know that was a thing…" She had a slight smile playing on her lips as he tore off a piece and tried it. "That is good."

"See I'm trustworthy."

"When you aren't throwing things at people in an airport. I'm surprised that isn't grounds to escort you out of here."

"Please don't tell on me."

"Stay on the straight and narrow and I'll keep security out of this."

She gave him a sweet, small smile and then made a face at him.

He watched quietly, taking another bite of the bagel and watching her swipe a few crumbs away from her maroon leggings. He could see the slightest bit of the tattoo on her forearm peeking out from the sleeve of her lightweight long-sleeved shirt that she had pushed up her arms.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in five years," he stated matter of factly out of the silence.

"Yeah it's been a few months; Mania, I think."

Jennings and Seth Rollins worked together in the WWE but their history as friends ran much deeper than the last couple of years. Jennings was currently a backstage reporter and ring announcer but she had previously been a WWE Diva. Seth had introduced her to professional wrestling and they had always managed to stay in each other's lives even when their paths took them in separate directions, personally and professionally.

"And now we're in the same terminal at O'Hare. Are you going to Orlando?"

"Yeah I was summoned. Why are you going down there?"

"They want to do some stuff at the performance center for the 2K promotional stuff."

"Oh I forgot you're getting you're going to be the cover boy. You've really hit the big time, Lopez."

His eyebrows rose as he inhaled deeply. "It's kind of bizarre."

"I better get an autographed copy."

"You still haven't answered my question ' _why'_ you're here, in Chicago. You don't come around these parts very much these days."

"Well why are you here? Don't you usually fly out of Moline?"

He cut a look and a frown at her, he almost rolled his eyes. "I do. Do you always have to be difficult?"

"You aren't new here, you know this."

"I know you _act_ like you're hard to handle because you _think_ you are."

She gave him a bright smile and batted her eyelashes quickly.

"Stop," he chuckled lightly at her overly satisfied response. "You always get under my skin."

"You always take yourself too seriously," she countered. She took a sip of her coffee and exhaled slowly. "I'm back in Chicago; I moved back. I've been here for about 2 weeks; I'm really just getting settled again."

"What?" He asked, almost stuttering his response.

"Yeah…" she trailed off and offered a small shrug.

He had turned his head to look at her, silent, and she returned his look with her own soft, silent look.

"I'm sorry," Seth said after a moment passed between them.

"It's ok," she replied quietly. "I'm um, staying with Jamie. It's actually been kind of fun. I've missed my sister time."

"Jamie, wow. I haven't seen _her_ in ages. How is she?"

"Oh Jamie is Jamie. She hasn't changed other than she's tall and gorgeous. She's still doing graphic design, still breaking hearts…"

"Brandon deserved it."

"It amazes me how much alike you are."

Seth scoffed, loudly, and then chuckled. "I'm insulted."

"So why are you in Chicago?" She countered, determined to get her answer since he had been so determined to get his.

"They had earlier flights and I needed to be down there early. I stayed the night here last night."

She raised her eyebrows at him and gave him an amused look as she reached over to tear off a piece of his half of her bagel that he was still working on.

"Not like that."

"Hey, I wasn't saying anything…" she shrugged.

"You didn't have to say it, I could feel it." He scoffed again as she reached for the bagel. "If you were going to steal back half of what you gave me you shouldn't have given it to me to begin with, you know?"

"I'm sorry, I have zero impulse control," she chuckled and folded her hands in her lap, fingers clasped together. "There rest is yours I promise."

He settled in to the seat a bit as he continued to eat, relaxing in to the hard plastic and so-called cushioning of the airport chair. They shared a comfortable silence and Jennings couldn't help but quietly muse to herself about all the time they had spent in airports together.

"Do you know what you were summoned for?" He asked out of the blue.

"Not entirely, no. I had a Tapout shoot planned for tomorrow already, with Lana, but Carano called me Wednesday morning and asked me to come down early for a meeting."

"You're still doing the shoot?"

"Yeah so at least I know I'm not getting fired," she grinned.

"They wouldn't fire you anyways..."

She shrugged silently at him and then both of their attentions and gazes jumped to the flight attendant as she started to announce they were beginning to board the flight to Atlanta that would then continue on to Orlando.

"I swear if we ended up having seats next to each other I'm getting right back off that plane," he mumbled as the two of them stood and gathered their minimal collection of things.

"That's rude."

He threw a wink at her with a soft smile before popping the remaining bite of bagel in his mouth and motioning for her to lead the way to the door.

Later that night Seth found himself propped up against the headboard of the bed in his hotel room, laptop open in front of him, and spacing out as he stared blankly at the football game on his television. He was bored and restless and couldn't seem to keep his focus. It had been a long day.

He reached for his cell phone from the night stand next to him with no real reason other than just looking at the screen; checking the time, hoping for some kind of interesting news alert.

The screen lit up with a text message just as he was lifting it. It was Jennings.

"I'm a fucking wizard..." He mumbled to himself as he unlocked his phone to read her message.

It wasn't' even a message, it was just a picture of a basket of wings and a basket of fried pickles. Two more messages quickly came through.

 _ **I have mozzarella sticks on the way, too. I don't know why I'm doing this.  
**_ _ **Please come help me eat all of this, though. I know you aren't doing shit but sitting in your room**_ **.**

He frowned at the phone and her implications that he was boring before shrugging slightly. She wasn't wrong.

 _ **Where are you?**_ He fired back before moving his laptop from his lap and beginning to move about the room.

He quickly slipped on athletic pants over his shorts and reached for his hat that had been discarded since he got back to his room. He checked his phone again for Jennings's response.

 _ **Across the street from the hotel at the little oyster bar.**_

 _ **See you in a few minutes.**_ He pocketed his phone, grabbed his wallet and headed towards the door as he made sure he had his hotel key tucked away in it.

The trek from his room to the elevator was short and quiet. He let his mind wander slightly as he waited for the familiar _ding_ of the elevator arriving to his floor and the doors opening before him.

He and Jennings hadn't ended up having seats next to each other but they had been across the aisle from each other. He had fallen asleep on the flight just long enough for a picture of his sleeping image to end up all over Jennings's social media accounts. He had no doubt that she had done it just to try and stir up the pot, with the fans, and with him. She knew he hated having his picture taken without a warning.

They had pretty much gone their separate ways once they made it to Orlando. It was really kind of absurd. If either of them had known they could have at least planned to share a rental car. Their paths had crossed a few times that evening at the performance center.

Truthfully he was happy he had heard from her. Not just because it gave him a distraction from his boredom but because he was curious about what her meeting had been about. He had been itching to ask her but didn't want to just ask her out of the blue with no prompting.

They were friends, they were close, but they had been distant over the last year or so. He wasn't sure if it was something it was just okay for him to dig his nose in to, so he had just let the thought of it float around in his head.

Now, he could ask.

She was easy enough to spot when he entered the bar. It was a small place but warm and cozy. TVs were lit up with various sporting events; mostly the Thursday Night Football game.

She was in the corner of the bar at a high-top round table, feet propped up on a chair across from her, settled back in her seat with her eyes on the TV ahead of her. He watched her run her fingers through her long black hair that was falling over one shoulder before her eyes moved and caught him in her line of view.

She smiled as he finished walking the small distance to her table.

"My hero," she teased.

He smiled as he settled in the seat across from her. "What kind of a gentleman would I be if I turned down a lady in distress and free buffalo wings?"

She shrugged slightly, a genuinely amused smile on her face, and sat up in her seat while simultaneously pushing the basket of wings towards him.

"What are we working with?" He asked.

"These 8 are teriyaki, these 8 are spicy garlic and these are the standard missionary 'hot sauce'," she replied to him, motioning with her finger as she spoke.

He lifted his gaze at her in question.

"Look, I'm stressed out, ok? I stress eat. So naturally I thought my best bet would be to have fried pickles and wings the night before I'm supposed to prance around in workout gear for a photo shoot. So, don't give me that judgey look and just enjoy your food."

"I said nothing," he responded, chuckling lightly and holding his hands up in surrender.

"It was in your eyes."

He rolled his eyes at her this time and shook his head before acknowledging the waitress that had approached them. She provided him with a small plate and he gave her a quick drink order of water.

"For the record," he leveled a look at her, "there was no judgment in any of that. I also don't think that having a couple of wings and some fried pickles is going to affect how you look in the slightest."

"Thank you."

"I am here to help, though. Thank you for inviting me."

From there they settled in to a comfortable and shared silence that was mixed in with comments about the football game playing on the televisions throughout the bar and other various pieces of small talk; mostly filling each other in on what was going on behind the scenes of their shows. It was light and fun and comforting; it was familiar to both of them.

By the time they had managed to devour their various bar snacks, Jennings was settling back in her chair and folding her arms across her.

"What?" Seth asked, picking up on her shift in mood just from her actions.

"I'm a little surprised by you tonight," she replied.

"Why?"

She shrugged meekly and bit her lip. "I don't know...I just expected you to be a little bit nosey and you haven't been."

"Oh trust me," he settled back in his own seat, "I've been dying to be nosey but I've been trying to keep it all in. I didn't think it was my place."

"Since when?"

He replied with silence and a shrug.

"You want to know what my meeting was about today?"

"Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Mostly."

"Well ask away...I'm giving you a place."

"Why are you back in Chicago?"

She inhaled deeply and leaned against the table, reaching out to stir her glass of water with her straw. "Would you believe me if I told you that L.A. just wasn't my scene?"

"No," he replied flatly. "You were pretty pumped about moving to L.A. if I remember correctly so I wouldn't believe it in the slightest. Who broke who's heart?"

"I broke his heart...I think." She cut her eyes up at him and raised her eyebrows. "I've been doing my best to ignore and avoid him, give it some time and space, so I can't say for sure but the 'please Jennings, let's work on this' messages I get every day seem to say 'heartbroken' to me."

Seth tried to bite back a smirk at her deadpanned reply to his question.

Jennings's boyfriend or apparent ex-boyfriend now, was a trainer with the Los Angeles Dodgers. She had moved to California from Chicago over a year before to start up a life with him.

"What happened?"

"Long story short, he pretty much forced me to choose him or WWE and we all know how that one is going to play out. I, apparently, traveled too much. I wasn't home enough. I didn't care enough. Blah blah. It's been a point of contention for the last couple of months, especially with their season being in full swing, and it just boiled over. He told me he wanted me to cut back on days and I told him no, other things were said, accusations were made...and here I am."

"Doesn't he travel with the team?"

"Right!" She responded in agreement. "When I was home, he wasn't, and when he was home, I wasn't. We didn't get a lot of time together, and I get that and I acknowledge that, but if I had told him he needed to get a new job and stop working for MLB he would've reacted the same way. There's always a compromise available, always, but it's always coming from me and I didn't want to compromise this time. I...I almost lost this once...I'm not going to just walk away from it. He's an athletic trainer, too, he sees careers end every other day, and he's supposed to understand that."

"Hey, you don't have to argue your case with me, I just...I was curious."

"I figured you would be."

"He wasn't my favorite, anyways."

Jennings rolled her eyes. "You and Nick have never, _ever_ , liked any guy I have dated. Ever. I could bring the Pope to meet you and you would hate him. You've always been that way."

"You have no room to talk and you wouldn't bring the Pope anywhere because A- you aren't religious and B- you have awful taste in men. You…jump in to things, you always have. That's just your M.O."

"Really? Do you _really_ want to compare our tastes in significant others and dating history right now? Let me consult google real quick..."

"No."

She raised her eyebrows and narrowed a look at him. "Can we move on?"

"Yes, we can move on...what was your meeting about?"

"I can't tell you."

He frowned at her and glared slightly, "don't give me that bullshit 'industry secrets' nonsense. Talk to me; tell me. You always told me these things."

She sighed heavily and reached for the two pickles that were still left in their basket. She dipped them in the spicy ranch sauce and popped them in her mouth before letting her eyes meet his again. She could read his curiosity and his pleading across the table, even in the dark, and she sighed again.

"They want me to get back in the ring," she answered his initial question.

"What? When?" Seth quickly sat up and then leaned lightly on the edge of the table. "Seriously, you're getting back in the ring?"

"If I say 'yes' it would be at the start of the year, right at new year's; on RAW."

"You're coming to RAW?"

" _If_..."

"Fuck that, Jenn. This isn't something you turn into an 'if'. You say yes. What is there to think about?"

She silently looked at him across the table.

"I'm serious."

"I know you are," she replied, almost too quietly for him to hear over the television noise being piped through the bar's main speaker system.

"Jennings..." He started to speak and then paused for a moment, thinking over his words. "Jennings, you didn't quit...you didn't even really 'retire'."

"No, I was forced out," she responded quickly. "I had to take time to heal and I got replaced and pushed in to ring announcing. And yes, I am still very grateful that I get to be a part of this business and be with the WWE and travel and all of that...but..."

"But what? This is a shot at redemption, Jennings. You can have your comeback that you didn't get and you can kickass and it'll be like old times."

"I don't even know if I can..."

"You were never told you couldn't wrestle, were you? It's not something you just forget how to do. January is months away, you have plenty of time to train."

There was a pause between them; a silence that settled over them. Jennings let her eyes shift to the nearest television and Seth watched her intently, trying to read her body language. He could tell there was a little bit of excitement coming from her but it was mostly apprehension and stubbornness. She was bitter, and he got that.

"You know I won't let you say no to this, don't you?" He asked.

"Why do you think I told you?" She questioned him in response.

He tilted his head slightly, giving her a questioning look and settled back in his seat again. "What do you mean?"

"I have until Summerslam to make a call on this and I don't plan on making it a widely known thing because _if I do_ come back, it has to be a surprise. But I'm torn on it and you may think I don't have anything to question or think about but I do...and you're my..." She stopped and licked her lips, pausing. "You've been around from the start and I don't know anyone, our age, who loves this like you do. If I was going to get advice from one person it would be you."

"You don't generally ask my advice on things anymore..."

"That's a horse of a different color."

He nodded and took his own moment to inhale deeply. "You know I'll push you to do it. I know what it's like to sit on the sidelines and watch people have their moments and feel like you'll never get that again and if you have the chance to make another run, if it's your last run or the start of a whole new chapter of your career, you can't turn it down."

She nodded in acknowledgement of what he was saying.

"Plus, I can help you."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "what?"

"You're a couple hours away from me, now. Come train with me, and Nick; get the team back together."

"No," she shook her head. "I will heed your advice but you are _not_ training me."

"Come on."

"We'll kill each other. You're a fucking drill sergeant as a coach. I'll punch you in the face."

"You will not punch me. You never have before."

"Do you not remember how many water bottles I've thrown at you and awful names I've called you?"

"Yeah, that's what we do. I never took that personally."

She shook her head, trying not to laugh at him.

"I know I'm an asshole sometimes but is there honestly anyone else you'd rather do this with, to have next to you?"

"Ferg, AJ, Becky, Bryan…" She trailed off and shrugged.

He narrowed his gaze at her, frowning. She seemed to get the hint of what his look meant and offered him a soft, small smile, and a 'sorry'. "At least come check out the gym. You haven't seen it."

"I'll think about it," she replied, this time a smile forming on her lips at the frustrated noise he made at her response. It was accompanied with an eye roll and head shake. "It's not a no."

"I'll take it for now but this isn't the end of this," he responded.


	2. What's Your Plan?

Chapter 2: What's Your Plan?

Despite the fact that it was a large city with constant action happening within the city limits and even outside of it, there was something very calm and peaceful that hung in the air of Chicago in the wee hours of the morning, especially when the rain was just clearing out. Jennings had even braved the elements for a few minutes to roll down the windows in her Jeep, to breathe in the brisk air and the fresh smell of rain.

She was tired; weary. It wasn't even really physical but all she wanted was her bed and the chance to lie in her bed for as long as she pleased when the sun rose and the day started. Not that she would lay in it for long, she never could really 'sleep in', but at least she would have the option.

Once she had left Orlando on Friday afternoon she had been jet setting and car tripping back and forth from Michigan, to all over Canada, and back to Florida before finally touching down at home.

Something about the mist of light rain in the street lights and the empty streets made her mind drift back to her couple of days in Orlando, her dinner with Seth, her bonding with Lana during their photo shoot and just how her mind had felt like it was on a different wavelength since then.

Maybe it was the silence and the stillness.

She remembered getting to the performance center early the morning of the shoot. Nobody had been around yet and she had taken a few moments to just sit in one of the empty rings, soaking everything in and letting her mind clear. She knew she had to make a decision and she needed that moment to herself to let everything come back to her; the smells, the feeling of the mat beneath her feet, the memories of the crowds and matches. It was a whole different world from where she was now; when the bell rang, she wasn't in the action, she was quietly off in the shadows. She missed the action.

She caught herself smiling in the darkness of her Jeep as she pulled into the parking garage of her apartment's building. Despite the fun she had traveling, it always felt good to be home.

The house was quiet and still. It was after three a.m., she had known her little sister would be sleeping. She flipped on a bedside lamp to give her some light and scanned the room quickly, glancing at the suitcase she had abandoned near the open doorway and then stopping her gaze on a box that was lying across the foot of her bed.

She frowned and reached for the sticky note resting on top of it.

"Miss you and love you. Tell me immediately what's in this big ass box!" was scribbled across it in her sister's handwriting.

"I don't know what's in the box…" Jennings mumbled in to the silent room, looking over the top of the box where the shipping label was.

It didn't have a return address, just her address, and that caused her frown to deepen.

 _What in the world?_

"I'm too tired for this," she stated. "There's probably a dead body or something in there anyways…"

She heaved the box off her bed, it wasn't all that heavy, and discarded it in the floor near her night stand. She would deal with that when she woke up.

The last thing she remembered was slipping into her bed and snuggling under her blanket before her eyes were fluttering open to sunlight coming through her window and the smell of fresh coffee lingering in the air. She rolled over to check the time on her phone and after blinking and groaning a bit at the prospect of getting up, she drug herself from the bed and started towards the kitchen and living room.

"Hey, James…" Jennings mumbled, standing near the entrance of the living room and looking at her sister.

Jamie, her little sister, was sprawled comfortably across their couch. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she was huddled in an oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants like it was the dead middle of winter and not late summer.

"Hey you! Welcome home!" she was greeted with a bright smile from her sister.

"Mmm," Jennings simply grunted and nodded. She continued on to the kitchen as Jamie continued to speak to her, asking if her trip home had gone smoothly. She started a cup of coffee in the Keurig and leaned against the countertop to engage with her sister.

"What was in the box, by the way?" Jamie asked.

Jennings furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and bit her lip slightly, "you know, I was too tired to even open it so I don't even know yet. I probably ordered something and just don't remember ordering it…"

Jamie's eyes grew a little wider and then she sat up, discarding her tablet to the side and getting up from the couch. "We're finding out."

"James…" Jennings glared at her slightly.

"It's been sitting here for a few days and it's been driving me crazy, we're finding out!"

Jennings mumbled a 'fine' as Jamie disappeared down the hallway. She returned a few seconds later, sliding the box on to the counter top and giving her sister an eager look.

Jennings rolled her eyes and turned to retrieve a knife to cut the tape and cure Jamie's curiosity.

Under the flaps of the cardboard box were stacks of unmistakable black apparel; shirts, jackets, sweat pants and even hats. They were littered with the various 'Black and Brave' logos of Seth's wrestling school and Jennings couldn't help but shake her head and roll her eyes slightly. This was incredibly unnecessary.

"Oh what kind of swag are you getting sent now?" Jamie's eyebrows rose slightly at her excitement.

"It's not even 'swag' really," Jennings mumbled. There was a small note and a loose sheet of paper resting in between two of the shirts and she pulled it out to read it. _Just look at all the cool merch we have! Share with Jamie :)_

"What is it then?"

"Colby," Jennings sighed. She removed all of the contents of the box and started to separate everything into two piles and then slid one towards her sister. "He sends his love."

"That's a name I haven't heard in a while," Jamie stated, picking up a shirt and examining it. "Black and Brave Wrestling Academy, I like it. Very him."

Jennings had started to slip on the zip hoodie he had sent and nodded quietly as Jamie talked. "He's done well."

"Why exactly is he sending this to you, though?"

Jennings had a brief flash of a memory pop in to her head of commenting on the Black and Brave hat that he had been wearing in Orlando.

"Well...I kind of asked for it," Jennings frowned, scrunching up her nose and she thought, "and I think he's also kind of trying to butter me up."

"Jenn..." Jamie stated in a warning tone.

"No," she interrupted her sister, "it's nothing bad. He..." Jennings paused and sighed, reaching for her mug of coffee she had almost forgotten about and taking a sip of the warm drink. "When I was in Orlando and I had that meeting, he was down there, too. We got wings one night and caught up and whatever. But my meeting I had was an offer to come back to the ring and I told him and this is him trying to get me to train with him and Nick."

"Yes, you have to!"

"No, I do not have to," Jennings replied. "I may have to say yes to WWE but not him. We don't _need_ to train together."

"Maybe you do. Maybe you two will be able to repair everything."

Jennings studied her sister quietly. How in god's name had the tables turned so that her little sister was the one providing her with guidance and advice?

"Maybe I don't want to do that."

" _Maybe_ you do. He obviously wants to. This could be his proverbial olive branch. Here, Jennings, here is some sweet swag and I'm offering to train you and we can go back to being the happy best friends we used to be. Give me a chance! What's it going to hurt?"

"Take your free shit and go away. You're annoying me."

Jamie laughed lightly and shook her head as she started to move from the bar stool she was perched on to return to the couch. "End the cold war, already. It's been too long...it's been like two years, let it go."

"Don't you have to go to work or something?"

"No, I had to kill some vacation time before I lost it so I'm off. I figured I could take advantage of you having some extra time off, too."

Jennings simply grumbled in response, a soft 'hmph' and continued to sip her coffee. After a few moments of standing in the kitchen, alone, and in silence she sighed, "I'm going to go shower."

"Call him!" Jamie called as her sister trekked back down the hallway she had come from.

Jennings had no intention of calling him but she did plan to text him.

She pulled up her messages and started to type out a text and then paused. _Fuck it_ she thought and skipped to the call screen. Jamie had gotten in her head, apparently.

She was greeted after a few rings with his warm voice. "Well hello."

"Hi," she responded.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

She could sense a bit of laughter in his voice and she rolled her eyes.

"You know damn well why I'm calling. That box was very extra."

"I mean didn't you tell me that you wanted some gear?"

"This is not what I meant."

Seth chuckled, "Did you at least like it?"

"I did. You've...you've done some big things. It looks good and it's very 'you'."

"Did it work at all?"

"I don't know..." She trailed off, shaking her head.

"What is there not to know?"

"I just don't know, Colbs. That's it. I don't know how to explain it more. There's...we have a lot of hist-"

"Come to Davenport, on Friday," he interrupted. "I'm here until Saturday morning."

"How did you get Friday off?"

"We get an extra day since we were in Canada, you know that."

"Don't you want to do... _you_ things with your extra day off? Enjoy a Friday night?"

"I can find time for you. Just come visit. You can see the gym, we can work out, and we can get tacos..."

She sighed, audible to him over the phone, and she bit her lip.

"That sigh was all I needed. You're sold."

"Friday works but I have one request."

"What's that?"

"Pizza instead of tacos."

He let out a low chuckle and she could almost see the entertained smile on his face in her mind. "Deal."

"Okay, well since that's settled I'm going to go now. I have things to do."

"Wow I get a three minute conversation...you don't want to chat at all?"

"No, I'm still annoyed with you. I'll see you Friday."

Two days later, Jennings found herself in somewhat familiar territory as she turned on to the street that Seth lived on. She had a brief moment where she realized the stark contrast in her feelings between her return home to Chicago just days before and her return to her friend's home, her old stomping grounds, the past.

The funny thing about all of it is that she really wasn't all that familiar with his house. She had visited him a few times after his knee injury and had been in the house once before that time. None of the visits had really ever gone spectacularly. In fact, the last one had been the moment she had accepted that their friendship would probably never return to the place it had been for so many years.

" _Hey, Kevvie!" Jennings crooned, squatting down to scratch the excited dog's ears and head as she stepped in to Seth's house._

 _It was late January, and on the surprise chance he had realized she was in Davenport visiting her grandmother thanks to Instagram, Seth had asked her to drop by so they could talk. She was in a bit of a time crunch to make it to the airport but figured she could at least give him a few minutes._

 _Ups and downs, good and bad; he was still one of her best friends and she hadn't seen him, or really spoken to him, since right after his knee surgery. It had been two months and she was curious about why he wanted her to come by._

 _She looked up at Seth, giving him a shy and awkward half smile, and then stood to follow him as he led her deeper in to the house, towards the kitchen._

 _"Do you want a drink, water or coffee?" He asked as they walked the short distance. "That's really all I have right now."_

 _"I'm trying to catch some shut eye on this flight so I'll pass on the coffee, water works though."_

 _"Where are you heading out to?" He asked, fishing a bottle of water from his fridge and turning to toss it to her._

 _She watched Kevin dance around his feet before rushing back over to her as she slid on to a barstool at the kitchen island. He sniffed both of her feet, inspecting her again. Seth settled across the island from her, leaning back against the kitchen counter. She smiled and looked up and over at him, "you're walking really well. How long have you had the brace off?"_

 _"Three weeks now, I think."_

 _"You barely even limp."_

 _"Yeah, things have been moving along ok. Not great, but ok."_

 _"Lifting yet?"_

 _"Not really," he shrugged._

 _"Meaning you do even though you aren't supposed to?" she countered._

 _"I'm still trying to make it to Mania."_

 _She nodded quietly, "well you look good."_

 _"How's your hip doing?" He asked, figuring while they were on the topic, they may as well get that part of the small talk out of the way._

 _Jennings had been through two surgeries the year before; one to repair a tear in the labrum of her right hip and one to clean out an infection she got in the same hip a few months after her first surgery. She had returned to the ring for a short amount of time in between the two srugeries, just long enough to get a few matches and pay per view behind her, before she was sidelined for the foreseeable future. Who knew that an infection would do more damage than an actual injury?_

 _"Ah, I'm doing fine. I'm...all healed up really. I'm still working on building my strength back up but it'll come. Everything else is fine, though. This cold weather makes it ache a bit."_

 _"Tell me about it. We're still too young to feel this old."_

 _"Mhmm," she nodded. She took a sip of her water as a silence fell over them. This felt weird yet it didn't. It felt weird because it had been awhile since they had sat and had a long conversation, since they had shared the happenings and ins and outs of their days and world. This was normal for them, though. This was what should be their normal, at least._

 _"I'm supposed to head back on the road next weekend; the house shows," she stated, breaking the silence. "I'm not sure if I'll be wrestling but I'll be back on the road."_

 _"What do you mean?" He asked._

 _"It's all kind of still up in the air. Right now, they want to wait until after Mania to really bring me back, give me a little more time...no room on the rosters, blah blah. There's been some chatter about maybe teaming me up with Renee..."_

 _"Did you tell them to go fuck themselves? You're a wrestler, Jenn," he took a step forward and leaning against the island. "Did you get told you can't wrestle?"_

 _"No, not yet-"_

 _"Yet?" he interrupted._

 _She shook her head, essentially brushing it off, "but it's really all up in the air and it's...I don't even know why I told you, it's not a big deal. It's the politics."_

 _"It is a big deal."_

 _"There's really nothing I can do about it. I'm lucky I haven't already been released, honestly, I'm kind of an injury hazard it seems."_

 _"Jenn, stop."_

 _"I'm 30, I'm old in this industry...as a female at least. Retiring isn't an awful idea," she shook her head and ran her hand across the tiled top of the island, directing her eyes away from him._

 _"You aren't retiring."_

 _"I don't really want to talk about this," she inhaled deeply and looked up, slightly taken aback by how intensely he was looking at her, studying her. Even in the dim light of the kitchen, his eyes had more expression in them then she cared to read in that moment. "Like I said, I don't know why I brought it up."_

 _"I've missed a lot, apparently," he stated, quietly._

 _"Yeah, you have."_

" _I'm sorry."_

" _It's fine, really."_

 _"I don't want it to be like this."_

 _"Is that why you called me?"_

 _Here it was; the roots to the unexpected phone call._

 _It was his turn to look down. "I've wanted to reach out for weeks, since at least Christmas, and it just...didn't feel like the right time. It felt forced. I saw you were in Davenport, I shot my shot."_

 _She didn't respond. She sat and studied him, letting the words brew._

 _"I..." He paused and inhaled and sighed, stepping back away from the island again. "I guess you heard that Zahra and I split up?"_

 _"Yeah, it made the rounds."_

 _He nodded. "That wasn't the catalyst, if that's what you're thinking. I've always missed you; I've always missed your friendship. I hated that you were going through your injury and surgeries and I just...wasn't connected."_

 _"I needed the space, Colby. It wasn't...it wasn't all just you. I pushed you away as much as you pushed me away."_

 _"And I should have never pushed." She started to counter and speak but he kept talking, "I mean that. You've been…I've been on my own and so have you and, I just should have been better. I lied to you and kept you in the dark and let you take heat for something you had no part of and I was a dickbag and I would change it if I could, in a heartbeat."_

 _"So would I, Colby, but we can't. I don't want to do this, I don't want to sit here and has this out and have a thing about all of it, we've both moved on. I know you don't really want to do this..."_

 _"I do if it means you stop keeping me out."_

 _She was quiet, dropping her head to her head to rub her forehead. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked up at him again. "Things aren't...the same; we're both different and I can't be the same friend for you that I've always been. I can let you in but I don't know if you really want that."_

 _"Why wouldn't I want that?"_

 _"I'm moving to L.A.," she responded, flat. "That's where I'm flying to tonight; I'm signing paperwork on a condo for me and Nathan."_

 _She could read the surprise on his face even though he tried to quickly recover from it._

 _"You hate California," he stated, "how did this happen?"_

 _"Things change," she shrugged, "things change, people change, there's evolution...I don't know. I'm excited about it though, and in love, and happy."_

 _"If you're excited and happy then I'm excited and happy for you," he responded._

 _There was another silence the fell between them. Kevin got up from where he had been laying under Jennings' feet and his claws made light tapping noises on the hard wood as he made his way to the living room._

 _"I probably need to head to the airport," she stated._

 _Seth nodded._

 _She slid off the stool and stood next the island, looking at him, waiting to see what kind of move he would make. It took him a moment but he stood to his full height and motioned for her. She hesitated a moment and then moved the short distance around the island to meet him in a hug._

 _"For what's it worth, I don't think things have changed all that much," he said after a moment, his breath rustling her hair slightly. "I do want back in."_

 _She inhaled deeply, catching a hint of his cologne, or body wash, or some scent that was lingering on him. Whether he would acknowledge it or not, they couldn't be as close as they had been for so long. She knew that._

 _"I'll see you at Mania," she said, pulling away from him. "I'm sure you'll be back for that."_

Maybe it _was_ a chance to start anew, like Jamie had suggested.

She inhaled deeply and cut the power to the car, leaving only the radio still playing, and after a few seconds opened the door to start towards the front porch. Her shoes made soft thuds on the concrete and then the stairs and before she could even lift her hand to ring the doorbell, Seth opened the door.

"Talk about some prompt service," she smiled.

"I saw you pull in."

He quickly hopped out of the doorway to give her room to walk in. She glanced down, noticing his bare feet peeking out from under his sweatpants, as she stepped by him and he closed the door behind him.

"I'm…early or something aren't I?" she questioned, giving him a questioning look as he stepped around her.

"No, I'm just…slow moving today."

She lifted her eyebrows.

"I fell asleep on the couch after you told me you were on the way. I had every intention of not doing that."

"You've been napping for three hours?"

"Ish," he shrugged, pairing it with an 'eh' hand motion. "I had a late night."

"Hot date?" she quipped.

"Yes with Brandon and the PlayStation."

"Your one true loves."

He chuckled and smiled, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. He had to admit that he had been nervous about Jennings coming to Davenport that day; excited and nervous. It was like old times and he was relieved and genuinely happy when their normal banter started to takeover. There was a relaxation coming over the room.

"I'm gonna change. Make yourself comfortable, there's still some slightly warm coffee."

She started to open her mouth to speak, to remind him she really didn't know where everything was, but stopped as he turned to start towards the hallway. She would manage.

She unzipped her Under Armor throw jacket and tossed it on the arm of the couch as she made her way deeper in to the house and in to the kitchen. There was coffee and it was less than slightly warm but she popped it in the microwave, topped it off with some milk, and took the few extra minutes to snoop around his house.

He hadn't changed it much since the last time she had been there. His furniture was different but the decorations were basically the same. She sipped her coffee and scanned his shelf of vinyl with her eyes before stopping in front of the piano near his fire place.

"Did you ever learn to play this?" she yelled towards the back of the house, hoping he would hear her.

"No!"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Why in the world did he waste money on an instrument he couldn't even play? She flipped up the lid and hit a few keys before she heard his footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Mostly Ralph sleeps on it but I can't remember the last time it was played," he stated.

She turned to him and sat down on the bench, watching as he sat on the couch to put his shoes on.

"Why do you still have it?"

"It looks good," he shrugged.

She nodded quietly and sipped her coffee.

"Honestly you were the only one of us who was ever decent at anything musical unless you count guitar hero." He sat up and rested his arms on his legs, looking at her across the room. "Leighla liked having it. You're the only person who ever really played it. I guess I just didn't want to get rid of it."

"It needs to be tuned," she said.

He eyed her quietly and then his mouth lifted in a partial smirk. "You wanna go to the gym first or you wanna see the sites of Davenport that probably haven't changed at all?"

"I'm gonna finish this coffee, first. Then the gym I guess."

The drive was quiet but comfortable. She spent it mainly sipping the coffee that he had insisted she just bring with them- when his impatience took over it really took over- and watching the sites go by on the short drive. He led her into the darkened building and gave her a look as he slipped through the doorway of the office to give them some light.

"I...expected people to be here..." She stated as he appeared.

"It's Friday afternoon, Jenn, some people have a life."

Her mouth dropped slightly at his use of her words on her and it quickly changed in to a glare, albeit a playful one.

"You're an ass."

"Yeah, yeah, you've told me that once or twice," he brushed off her insult and led her further in to the gym. "This is it. This is my baby."

She took in the equipment, the banners, the belts, the pictures of his and their crew's days of wrestling past speckling the walls, the rings; it was everything that had ever been imagined.

"So what's your plan?" She asked, making her way to the ring closest to them and running her hand along to mat and the bottom rope. She kept her gaze on the empty ring while she waited for him to respond.

"That's up to you," he said.

She shook her head and turned to look at him, letting her body lean back on the ring slightly. "This was all you, Colby. You sold what you could to get me here, you want me to work with you and be a part of all of this; so sell me. If I come do this, what am I getting in to? What's your plan?"

"What makes you think I have a plan?"

"Because I know you and I know that you probably have a new finisher, a new top rope move, and a new submission move already planned out for me in your head."

He was quiet for a moment, his arms folded across his chest. She could see him biting the inside of his lips even across their distance.

"Work out first," he started. "I know you've kept yourself in shape but I'd like to see just how much in shape you've kept yourself. I would like to know what I'm getting myself in to as well. Then we can get in the ring but...just something small and basic for today. I know you've been cleared but I want to be comfortable knowing that you aren't going to break or that it's too much."

She nodded, accepting his words, and smiled, "Where's the locker room?"

* * *

 **Review/follow/favorite - ENJOY!**


	3. Don't Thank Me Yet

**Chapter 3: Don't Thank Me Yet**

Coffee in one hand, her elbow perched on the arm of the director's chair she was sitting in, and iPhone in the other hand; Jennings was settled in a corner of the underbellies of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

She was scrolling through an article about the current major league baseball playoffs race while absentmindedly sipping a coffee and enjoying the peace and quiet before the arena started to fill up with fans, superstars, and the rest of the WWE crew for the night's pay per view event.

Her dark grey jegging clad legs were crossed and her booted foot was bouncing to some unknown tune in her mind.

She sighed contentedly and set her phone in her lap and took a sip of her drink before lifting her eyes and taking in the sites down the hallway. Despite the fact she was essentially 'hiding' at the moment; this really was one of her favorite times of the year.

Summer Slam; the end of summer, the steady upswing to set the ball rolling for stories that would culminate at Wrestlemania, the weather shift, her favorite holidays.

And on top of it, she was feeling happy and content. The changes she had made personally and the changes the seemed to be in store for her in her career had her hopeful and excited.

This was going to be a good couple of months. She could feel that.

Her quick venture in to her thoughts and head had distracted her and a light tap on her shoulder pulled her back to real time.

"Mrs. Gray?"

She looked quickly to her right and up and smiled at, who she suspected was an intern based off of the khakis and button down and ID badge hanging around his neck, speaking to her. "Yeah?"

"Mr. Dunn said you were expecting these?" He responded, holding up a thin stack of papers. "It came through to the office."

"Oh! Yes, I am. Thank you for tracking me down, I had already forgotten about them. You're a doll!"

"You're welcome," the intern responded and after a few seconds of silence that started to breach over to awkwardness he turned on his heel and headed back down the hallway he had come from.

Jennings started to skim over the papers he had handed over, resting her coffee cup on her knee and using one hand to flip a page.

"What did you do to that poor intern to make him scramble away like that?"

Jennings looked up in to the deep chocolate eyes and amused smirk of Seth.

She frowned at him, "he didn't scramble."

"He scrambled."

"Did he really?" She glanced over her shoulder to see if he was able to be spotted at all. Of course, he wasn't. "I didn't do anything, I said thank you and called him a doll."

The amused look continued and she could see a smile start to form.

"Shut up," she said, speaking before he could say anything. She waved the papers, "he brought these to me, and I was being nice."

"You can't call a kid like that 'doll', Jenn."

"I can list the things I can call a kid like you, though."

Seth rolled his eyes slightly and moved his bag to the side so he could sit on the edge of the chair that was next to Jennings's chair. "What is that anyways? Creative notes? That new contract?"

"No," she said looking down and thumbing through them quickly, "and no, that meeting is tomorrow."

"So, no clues for me for this meeting I'm about to walk in to?"

"No," she said again, smiling. "It's house stuff for my realtor. It's very boring."

"You found a place in Chicago already?"

"Selling the house in California. Nathan decided he didn't want to stay there."

Seth snickered, "your name was on the house?"

"I'm not a total idiot, Colb. If I'm going to move across the country for someone I'm not going to get put in a position where I get kicked out and I have no place to go."

"So now you're kicking him out?"

"He made his choice," she shrugged, "he doesn't want it. So I'm selling and using the money to get out of my poor sister's hair."

"I'm sure Jaime likes having you around."

Jennings shrugged lightly and took a sip of her drink, "you're here earlier than usual."

"Creative meeting," he reiterated from the question he had asked her just a few minutes earlier.

"Right. I knew that."

"Drink that coffee and wake yourself up; you're slow on the uptake today," he made a slight head nod towards the cup cradled in her hands.

"Go to your meeting and let me get back to enjoying the calm before the storm."

Seth smiled and stood, "good luck with the house."

She smiled softly and nodded and glanced briefly as he started to walk away. She paused for a moment and then turned her head fully to glance over her shoulder, "hey."

Seth paused and looked at her.

"Congratulations."

"What?"

"You and Jon...congratulations. That's all I'm saying about it."

Seth's smile widened as he processed what she was saying to him. "Are you serious?"

"Be sure you act surprised."

"I will thank you."

She nodded, smiled, and waved him off to continue down the hallway. As she turned back around she could just make out the entrance to the arena and see a few of her coworkers starting to file in to the arena. The crew was starting to get busy around her as well. In just a short time the glam squad would descend on the area she was in and the ball would be rolling.

Might as well give in to the action and go mingle... she thought to herself.

She rolled the papers slightly and slipped them under her arm and began to trek down the hallway towards the true hub of the backstage area; catering. She exchanged a few 'hello' and pleasantries with some crew and superstars as she made her way.

The person she was looking for was exactly where she expected her to be. Renee Young was busy making herself a cup of tea as Jennings walked through the curtained opening to the lounge.

Jennings swatted at the back of her legs with her papers and grinned as Renee's head snapped back at the contact.

"I thought you were Jon misbehaving," Renee giggled, turning to face her friend.

"Just me getting a little handsy," Jennings shrugged.

"I'm not going to complain about it."

Jennings turned her attention away from Renee for a moment to say a quick 'hello' to Nia Jax as she walked by them, with a quick hug, and turned back to a smile from Renee.

"What?" Jennings questioned, moving to the row of coffee containers to refill her cup while they were in the vicinity.

"I was going to come grab you earlier when I walked in. I saw you down the hall but you had company so…" Renee shrugged and sipped her drink.

"I didn't have company. He was saying hello."

"Since when?"

"Since always."

"Mhmm," Renee uttered softly.

Jennings rolled her eyes, "I have to reschedule brunch tomorrow."

"Jenn, no!" Renee gave a strong but playful pout.

"I know, but my meeting got rescheduled and it's at 1:00 and the last thing I need to do before that is drink mimosas and have 25 waffles."

"What kind of meeting are you having?"

"It's nothing, really. Just a quick chat with Carano and…Vince." Jennings shrugged and cut her eyes at Renee before taking a sip of her fresh coffee.

"Vince?" Renee asked. "Jenn, you don't just have a quick chat with Vincent Kennedy McMahon. That isn't an actual thing. Are you in trouble?"

"No."

"Are you getting fired?" Renee dropped her voice.

"Renee, they wouldn't have me on the pay per view tonight just to turn around and fire me in the morning. Seriously, it's nothing that's a big deal."

Renee studied her for a moment, "okay, we're finding a safe space. Let's go."

She latched on to Jenn's arm and gave her a soft tug and they headed towards the hallway to find an empty corner or abandoned equipment where they could talk freely without the overly sensitive ears of the WWE Universe being so close by.

"Alright, let's hear it," Renee stated as they came upon two folding chairs that were on their own in the hallway down from catering and away from the locker rooms.

"This wasn't necessary," Jenn frowned.

Renee perked her eyebrows and folded her arms as best as she could with her cup of tea still in her hand and crossed her legs.

Jenn sighed and reluctantly took the seat across from her friend.

"A couple weeks ago when I went down to Florida for that shoot with Lana, I got pulled away by Sean and Mark for an extra meeting. They, our powers that be, want me to come back to competing on the roster, being in the ring."

"Jenn!" Renee exclaimed, tossing her hands up in surprise at the news. "Jenn that's great! Holy crap! When? How?"

"That's part of the meeting tomorrow. They're being kind of super secretive about it, which is fine, and also why I hadn't really mentioned it to you yet...I just know it would be at the start of the year. I have to have some time to get myself back in ring shape and... that's when they want it. I don't know against who or for how long or any of that yet."

"Okay well you can't cancel brunch tomorrow now because we have to celebrate. I'm seriously happy for you, Jenn, you're back!"

"Not quite yet."

"You're coming back. Can I tell Jon?"

"Of course, you can, and we should probably move it at least dinner. Neither of us have call tomorrow..." She shrugged.

"Dinner works; and it's on me."

Jenn shook her head and bit back an amused smile at her friend. She was happy for her enthusiasm but she had a suspicion that Renee was going to blow this out of proportion; at least for what it was at the time. Renee did have a flair for dramatics.

"So where does Colby come in?" Renee asked, pulling Jenn from her wandering thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Where does he fit in? I know how to piece a puzzle together."

"If you know how to piece a puzzle together then why are you asking me where he fits?" Jenn quipped.

"You know what I mean. Spill it."

"I told him," Jenn answered, forthright and short. "He happened to be in Tampa, too, and I told him about it. It just seemed to be kind of right. I knew what he would say before I even told him and I think it's really just what I needed...wanted to hear."

"Makes sense."

Jennings nodded and picked at a piece of lint on her knee, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. "He wants to train me."

"What?"

"I went to Davenport last week to check out his gym...hopped in the ring for a few minutes, had some dinner. He wants to be the one to train me, well retrain me, get me in to shape, whatever..."

"Why not the PC?"

"Davenport is closer. I just got back to Chicago, you know, I want to see my family, my niece, and get settled. I don't want to hop planes for the next four months or live out of a hotel. Logistically it makes sense, and he's the one who taught me to wrestle to begin with...I don't know, it's like a circle of life thing, I guess."

"Is that it?" Renee smiled.

"I could work with Becky, but that's California, or Finn, but he's in New York."

"Can you work with him, though? Without killing each other, I mean. I know you were yin and yang back a few years ago, but now..." Renee let her question trail off.

"I mean I told him I would probably end up killing him and he was all 'that's just what we do' so he reaps what he sows," Jenn joked.

"You know what I mean."

"We didn't get that deep in our conversation. It wasn't that serious; we caught up on things, talked about work."

Renee nodded in understanding and offered her own small shrug. "I know, personally, I would want to dive a little deep on some things. That's a lot of time together, and it's your career, Jenn, I don't think that it would hurt things."

"I know and I plan to do that."

"I'm not trying to butt in to your business."

Jenn snorted and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "That is exactly what you're trying to do. That's basic Renee 101."

"I make no apologies for that."

Jennings ran her hand through her hair and glanced around at the motions going on around her. "You think it's a good idea? All of it?"

Renee was quiet for a moment, measuring her response. "I do. It's redemption in more ways than one and I'm really excited to get to watch it all happen. Second chances are rare and most of the time they're a good thing."

"Thank you," Jenn smiled. She nodded and inhaled deeply and stood up, "I still don't know what I'm wearing tonight, let's go narrow it down. And also, your husband is winning the tag titles tonight."

"What?!" Renee exclaimed.

"That's the last secret I'm sharing with you for the foreseeable future."

Seth was packing up his handful of clothes that weren't already in his bag, maneuvering them in to smaller folds and pushing them to the side to make sure there was room for his belt to tuck away in his bag. Mid-morning on Monday and he was ready to knock out his day and get to that night's RAW. He admittedly was on a high at the moment. Only a few things, career wise, could make him happier than the position he was in and he was thankful for it, ready to tackle the task.

His phone began to ring from its discarded spot on the bed and he glanced at Jennings' name and picture showing up on his screen before reaching for it.

He chuckled to himself at the contact image that was still set for her on his phone. It briefly crossed his mind that this was the first time she had actually called him in quite a long time; at least a year.

"Hello, Jenn," he answered smoothly, a hint of laughter still in his voice.

"Hi," she responded, her voice coming in loud and clear over his speaker phone. "Are you laughing about something?"

"Um yeah, a bit. Your picture on my phone is still that one of you pouting about Kevin shoving his face in your ice cream and it just made me laugh."

"Ew, you're going to have to change that," she chuckled.

"I like it."

"I probably look like an idiot, too. That was like four years ago. We were babies."

"We were four years younger than we are now I wouldn't exactly call us babies."

"Practically an infant in wrestling years..."

"What are you up to?"

"I'm on my way to my meeting; I'm pretty much around the corner. I just wanted to...say hi real quick, I guess."

He paused in his movements and made a face, even though nobody could see it.

"Are you nervous?" He chuckled.

"A little, yeah. Carano scares the piss out of me."

"Carano? Not Vince?"

"No, Vince is a teddy bear. Carano is a grizzly..."

"He's not that bad and there's nothing for you to be nervous about. This is practically a done deal, right? It's a formality."

"Yeah, I know, I just hate this stuff. I um...I don't know what your schedule is for the rest of the day but do you want to meet me for coffee when I'm done or something? If you're free..."

"Uh, yeah, I can meet you. I have to go to the gym but I'm not going to turn down coffee."

"Don't postpone the gym for me."

"It's fine," he sighed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just text me and I'll meet you."

"Ok, thank you. Wish me luck I guess."

"You don't need it."

Almost two hours later, Seth found himself nestled at a corner table of the coffee shop across from the hotel most of the Superstars were staying in, taking in the aromas and sounds of his surrounding while he waited for Jenn to make her appearance. Judging from the time she had text him, she should be walking through the doors at any moment.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the chair and let his eyes wander the room.

Not surprisingly, he heard her voice before his eyes settled on her walking through the door. She tossed a wave of acknowledgement towards him and then rolled her eyes and pointed at her phone, drawing a smirk from him.

He watched her, amused, as she tried to wrap up her phone call. She was obviously irritated, or flustered, judging by the fingers she kept raking through her hair and the faces she was making.

"I'm sorry," she said, slightly breathless, as she finally made her way to his table. She gave him a wide eyed look before sliding in to the seat across from him.

"It's fine…you looked like you were having fun." He watched her twist to hang her bag on the back of the high chair, slip her phone in the side pocket, and lightly flip her hair over her shoulder as she turned back to him, "you look nice."

"Thank you, I figured I should ditch the joggers and t-shirt for today," she smirked, "and yeah, that was Nathan so you can imagine…"

"You're finally answering phone calls?"

"I didn't have a choice; really, he's been bugging me all morning. Apparently, _his_ dog who _he_ wanted so badly to keep custody of has been a total nightmare since I've been gone and he wanted to know if I wanted to bring her to Chicago."

"Yes, always yes to dogs."

"Of _course_ yes. I hated leaving her to begin with but I was really just exhausted with fighting. So I'll be picking her up from Midway on Wednesday morning."

"I hope I get to meet her."

"I hope you do and I hope she steals your ice cream," Jennings grinned.

"Touché," he chuckled.

They were interrupted briefly by a barista delivering a drink to Jennings. She raised her eyebrows at Seth across the table.

"You ordered for me?"

"Yeah when you said you were headed this way. I figured your drink order hadn't changed much since you drank the same thing for roughly ten years."

"Fourteen," she responded.

"Fourteen?"

"We met fourteen years ago," she answered. "I mean, I know we weren't _friends_ right off the bat but it's been fourteen years…"

"Time flies."

"And, thank you," she tipped the coffee mug slightly, "this was very gentlemanly of you."

"I'm singlehandedly bringing chivalry back," he commented, watching as she took a sip of the fresh, hot beverage. He adjusted how he was sitting, resting his forearms on the table and leaning forward slightly, playing with the stirring straw still in his drink. There was a short silence as he watched her follow a few passersby on the sidewalk with her eyes. "So what's up?"

She turned her hazel eyes on him and smiled softly, "why does there have to be something up?"

"Because it's been three years since we hung out and got coffee."

"It's been two."

"Two and a half."

She pursed her lips together at his arguments, slightly amused. "There's nothing 'up' really," she shrugged, mirroring his posture leaning against the table. "I figured you would want to know how everything went and…I don't know…we could just talk."

"Of course I want to know, I just had a feeling there was more to it. That's easily remedied with a text or phone call. 'Hey Colbs, everything went great, can't wait to get started. See you tonight.' Or something like that with a few praise hand emojis. How did it all go?"

"Everything went great," she teased, chuckling at his blank face. "It was good, it was…I have to go through a physical but the plan would be to make my re-debut after the new year."

"Against who? Did they say? It seems they would have something planned to get all of this going…"

She smiled, tight lipped, and glanced down at her drink.

"You aren't going to tell me?" he exclaimed.

"No, not right now."

"Oh, Jenn, come on! How am I supposed to back you up, or train you, if I don't even know what you're preparing for? I'm not…you can trust me."

"It's not about trust, with you, and plus I don't for sure, one hundred percent know, but when I do you'll get the full scoop."

"I'm calling full bullshit on that," he retorted.

Jennings shrugged and smiled and a short silence passed between them.

"Why is this so important to you?" she dropped her question out of the blue, not bothering with formality or sugar coating.

"There it is."

"I just…" she started to speak and he shook his head, leading her to cut off her response.

"You don't have to clarify, I know what you mean. It's important to me because it's great for you and you deserve it and I want to see you excel." He shifted again in his chair and cast a quick glance at the passing barista, "and, to be honest Jenn, it gives me a chance to hang out with you, if that's what you're waiting to hear."

"I wasn't waiting to hear anything," she replied softly. "You know, when I left for California we didn't exactly say goodbye on great terms. I know we've seen each other here and there since then and I mean, we work together, but this…you've just really latched on to this. I'm not mad about it, it's not an issue, Colby I just wanted to know why."

"I wasn't there for you the first time you worked for a comeback. I had pushed you away, and I was stuck up my own ass as well as other people's asses and I was a shitty person and then you got your infection, and another surgery, and more recovery- and I wasn't there for that either."

"That wasn't all on you."

"Most of it was."

"You had your own comeback to focus on."

"That doesn't mean I couldn't have helped you, or been there for you."

"So…it's atonement?"

He chuckled and settled back in his seat again, "I guess you could call it atonement, or a makeup, or whatever, but…I know I can't make up for any of…our shit. I would very obviously go back and do a lot of things over but I can't and I made peace with that, but our friendship is something I never should have sacrificed. If I have the chance to have a second chance, then why not latch on to it? Besides you came to me…and you know that if anyone is going to get you back in to shape it's me."

"You think so, more so than being at the performance center?"

"Between me and Nick, yeah, we started this."

She inhaled deeply and trailed her finger lightly around the rim of her coffee mug, realizing she had only taken the one sip so far. She took another sip and set the mug down, lifting her eyes to meet his again. He was, impatiently, waiting for her to speak.

"I don't want to spend all of my free time in Davenport," she stated, matter of factly. "I came back to Chicago for a reason, as opposed to staying in LA, and you're close but you're still three hours away, so how does that work?"

"I don't, I wouldn't expect you to be there every day of every week. I can come to Chicago some; you can do some stuff on your own; your strength and conditioning. It's doable and it's still a better option than moving to Tampa."

"You're fine with that? Because I know you and I know how you get but I'm a grown ass 32 year old woman now and I don't need you riding me like you used to. I'm also not giving up donuts so don't even try to suggest that."

"I would never."

"And Nick is going to help," she half stated and half asked.

"So is this a thing we're doing? Because it feels like this is officially a thing that we're doing."

"Vince and Carano actually really liked the idea," she answered, "and truth be told, I like it, too. It feels…right- and…it gives me a chance to hang out with you some."

He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners and she responded with her own grin.

"Also, I'm not calling you coach."

"You can call me anything you want, I've heard it all before," he replied.

"I guess it's a thing we're officially doing then."

"Good, I'll have my lawyer send you a contract."

She stiffened slightly and gave him a wide eyed look, "wait what?"

"I'm kidding."

"You're an asshole," she breathed.

His cell phone that was sitting on the table vibrated two times and their eyes both cut to it. He glanced at the message on his screen and looked up. "I'm supposed to meet Bayley for the gym."

"I told you not to postpone anything for me."

"I didn't, you wanna come with us?"

"Nu-uh," she shook her head, "I'm going to finish this coffee and then I'm going to spend one of my last free days with some shopping and dinner and cocktails with Renee."

"Fair enough," he moved to stand up, "come here you have to hug me."

"Do we have to?" she frowned.

"Yes, come here."

She continued to frown and stood up; letting him pull her in to a hug and despite her faux objections she wrapped her arms tightly around him. They hugged for a moment, in silence.

"Thank you, Colby," she finally stated.

"Don't thank me yet but you're welcome."

* * *

 **Hope you all are enjoying! Who watched the WWE GRR today? The neon green was back! Woohoo!**

 **Yes we'll be getting in to some wrestling stuff now that we've gotten the background and storyline set up and moving along!**


	4. Just Lending A Hand

**This one is a little bit shorter than the other but I really enjoyed writing this one!**

 **Thank you for the likes, follows and reviews! Keep em' coming!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Just Lending A Hand**

Jennings put her car in park in the parking lot of the Quad Cities Gym and took a deep breath as she glanced at herself in the rearview mirror.

It was day number one; workout number one. She was nervous.

She didn't really have an idea as to why she was nervous, it wasn't like this was an entirely new situation to her, she had been in the gym and in rings for ten years, but she could definitely feel a stirring of butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

It was more anxiety and excitement than nervousness, she told herself. This was going to be fun and good and she had her two guys to back her up.

She exhaled and stepped out of her car, pausing in the open door to pull her loose hair in to a messy bun on top of her head, and grabbed her gym back from the back seat before setting out across the gravel to the entrance she had gone through with Seth a week before.

She had parked next to him and had no doubt he had been there for half of the day.

The building was warmer, brighter, louder and much busier than their previous solo trip there. She realized as the glass door shut behind her that she and Seth hadn't really nailed out any details other than "see you at 5:00". Did she just walk in? Did she need to check in with anyone? Black and Brave didn't occupy the entire place.

She cast a glance at the young man sitting at the counter to her left and he met her gaze. "Need some help?" he asked.

"Honestly, I don't know…" she fished her phone from the side pouch of her bag and stepped to the side, out of the way of the doorway, and started to send Seth a text.

"Are you just dropping in or do you want to get a tour, get a membership?" the young man asked her.

"She's with us, she's good."

Jennings looked over at the interruption to the smiling face, backwards hat and glasses of Nick Morril, better known as Marek Brave, the missing puzzle piece to her friendship with Seth.

She was greeting him with a grin and hug before he could even speak again.

"It's so good to see you," she said, stepping back and giving him a once over. "You look good. Retirement is treating you well."

"My kids are killing me though," he laughed, "I am good though, I'm great actually. You look like you're doing great, too. Never thought I'd see the day that you were here to coach with us and train with us again."

"Coach?" she questioned.

"I was told you were going to be helping us out," Marek shrugged, "that look says he didn't run that part of the equation by you."

"Not at all but I'm not surprised by that," she chuckled lightly.

"Come on, I'll give you some proper introduction. Wonder boy is finishing a run."

Jennings gave Marek a raised eyebrow, questioning look. "Since when does he run?"

"It was part of the WOD."

Seth returned to the gym just a few minutes after Marek and Jenn had reunited. He slowly made his way through the open garage door, catching his breath, hands on his hips, surveying the room. He had seen her car on his way in, he knew she had gotten there.

His eyes settled on Marek, one of their students, Justin, and the back of Jennings. She had curls slipping out of her loose bun already, hands buried in the pockets of the joggers she was wearing and he could just make out the profile of her face; eyes set, lips tights, intently listening to whatever story Marek was telling or whatever he was explaining.

Something he said triggered her and she laughed; boldly, loudly, and purely. Her voice carried across the open space of the gym and she lightly touched Marek's arm as she continued to laugh. There was something almost soothing, comforting, about hearing her laugh. It had been a long time and it gave him a brief feeling of being ten years younger, meeting up in a grungy, dirty basement to lift makeshift weights and try their hardest to become _something_.

He started across the gym at a light job and slowed to a walk as he approached them.

"It seems I missed the punch line," he stated.

Jennings turned her head to take him in and smiled, "hi."

He nodded his hello.

"It wasn't a punch line, really," Nick countered.

Seth raised his eyes, silently questioning him.

"He was just telling Justin and reminding me that we used to fight all the time because you were mean to me when we first met."

"I wasn't mean to you," Seth countered.

Jennings scoffed, "literally the second or third sentence you ever spoke to me was making fun of me for being a cheerleader."

"I wasn't making fun of you, I was _teasing_ you and I was young and dumb and I didn't know any better than to pick on girls…"

"He made me cry," Jennings turned her gaze back to Justin, "so don't listen to his version of things. It's wrong. He was really mean."

Justin cracked a smile and looked from Seth to Jennings, "I feel like I have to believe his story because he employs me but just know that deep down I believe you. He's mean to me, too."

"Ok, alright, we can break this up now," Seth half frowned and half rolled his eyes. "Bringing Jenn in was not code for 'give Colby a hard time', we have work to do."

Marek, Jennings and Justin all cracked smiles and there was a light ripple of chuckles as Seth started to part from the group and head to his gym bag.

"Now we hurt _his_ feelings," Marek stated.

"Ego; we hurt his ego. He has no feelings," Jennings countered.

"I can hear you!" he called.

There was a small hint of laughter in his voice, lightness, and Jenn shared smiles with her two companions before breaking away to join him after shouldering her own bag.

"You're very sensitive," she stated, approaching him as he shuffled around his bag, "and still unorganized apparently."

He produced his knee sleeves and glanced up at her, a not amused expression on his face, before standing up to his full height. She met his gaze, a smile playing on her lips, countering his sour face with an amused expression. There was a definite twinkle in her eyes.

"Are you ready to work?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes, dropping her folded arms to her sides and then resting them on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Stop this."

He continued to look at her for a moment, serious, his eyes not leaving hers. A smile slowly started to form after a moment.

"Did I really make you cry?"

"Yes, you did. I cried on the way home that night and called you the biggest asshole I had ever met. I may have exaggerated a bit."

"You've never told me that."

"I didn't want you to know that you had made me cry," She shrugged, "that's kind of embarrassing and it was really silly, too. Mind you I wasn't sobbing or anything, just frustration tears. I was really sensitive back then. I didn't have a lot of self esteem and you were _so_ full of yourself and I couldn't stand it. You guys and Macy were the only people I knew though so what could I do?"

"None of us had any self esteem," he countered, "it was all an act."

"I know that _now_."

"If it helps at all you were by far the coolest cheerleader I ever met."

"I was probably the only one you had every really 'met' if we're being honest," she smiled in return, "and it's not like it still matters. I'm not still mad about you for it."

"Are you sure?" he teased her.

"Yes, I am positive. There are far bigger things I can be mad at you over."

"Fair enough…you ready?" he nodded his head towards the front of the gym where she had entered earlier.

She nodded and motioned for him to lead the way across the gym. His steps were long and purposeful and like she had done for so long, she had to walk slightly faster than she normally would to keep up with him. She never could figure out what it was about him, their heights weren't _that_ far off, but he was always a stride ahead.

The quick trip across the space gave her a chance to let her mind wander slightly.

The first time Jennings met Seth and Marek she had been eighteen, the summer before her senior year of high school. She was a fresh transplant to the Midwest; moving to live with her dad in Chicago after her parent's divorce. It may not have been the most stable move but she had been dying to get out of Smyrna, in typical teenage fashion, and she was also a diehard daddy's girl.

Her grandmother lived in Davenport and that's where she found herself for the summer months; lifeguarding, settling in, enjoying her eighteenth year.

"Jennings?" Seth's voice broke into her beginning of a stroll down memory lane and she blinked quickly before meeting his eyes with hers. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you go?"

She shook her head at his question, "just got lost in my thoughts; tired from the drive I think, nervous. Were you talking to me?"

"Yeah," he chuckled lightly and flopped down in the seat of the desk in the gym office. "All I said was you paid me back for making fun of you. What do you mean nervous?"

"You have an office?" Jennings questioned at the same time he asked his question. They studied each other for a moment before she spoke. "Just not sure what to expect…coach, trainee, yada yada…" she responded with a blasé shrug. "I still stand by my statement that your hair was stupid."

"It's mostly Nick's office but I use it," Seth added his own answer, a smile painted on his face.

There was another moment of shared silence and he reached towards the computer to grab a notebook. It was small, black, looked like a journal. He handed it over to her without a word.

"What's this?" She asked, flipping open the cover to a blank page and leaning against the desk, mostly sitting on it, to rest her weight.

"That is your first four weeks of workouts, courtesy of the diabolical Josh Gallegos."

"I'm not sure you that diabolical means what you think it means," she muttered, starting to quickly skim through the pages. She glanced up at him briefly, "you wrote this all out for me?"

His scribble was unmistakable.

"I figured it was easier than giving you screen shots of the texts he sent me."

"That was very above and beyond of you."

"You've always journaled your workouts, you used to at least. Just figured a head start on it might be...nice or convenient I guess. It's really not a big deal. Right now this first couple of weeks is mostly strength focused and conditioning; track your weights, track your times, up them both, you know how it all goes. You aren't new to this."

She was still flipping through the pages as she spoke. "Sixty burpee box jump overs for time, woof. Maybe he is diabolical. What about getting in the ring?"

"I'm not worried about that part."

Jennings closed the journal and looked at him. She inhaled deeply, waiting for him to continue talking. She could sense that there was more.

"You're a great wrestler, Jenn, and it's not something you just forget. You don't need that much work. When it's closer to you actually having matches we can clean up some stuff, work out new moves, get your ring awareness back but it's not something I'm worried about. Trust me on this."

She smiled softly and nodded, "well do I need to sign a contract or something? You guys are paying for me the help coaching, right? I don't work for free."

He rolled his eyes and pushed the chair back, standing up. "Come on, I'm going to do this first work out with you. We can talk about payment; you can choose tacos, pizza or cupcakes…but that's about all I'm promising you."

"With the salary you make; tacos, pizza or cupcakes is the best you can do?"

"How do you know what my salary is?"

"Everybody knows what everybody's salary is."

"I don't know yours."

"Subtract about 2.4 million from yours," she stated.

He stopped walking. She followed suit and turn to look at him. "What?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah it's roughly around that. I made them give me a little more when they moved me to ring announcing and I'll get a bonus when I start back in the ring."

"That's without merch, too."

"Why do you think I work every house show and did Total Divas when I still qualified as one? And agree to do those ridiculous fitness and bathing suit photo shoots? I don't enjoy _never_ having a life outside of work; only about 98% of the time."

"Well...maybe we will have to pay you."

"I was joking, and I don't need your pity paycheck. I'm fine. _This_ is plenty," she held up the journal and wiggled it in the air. "I'm serious about that."

He studied her, not speaking.

"I'm serious," she reiterated. "If it's going to bother you now I'll take the cupcakes and pizza."

She dropped her last deadlift; the plates on each end of the barbell bouncing and making _thud_ sounds against the cushioned mats covering the gym floor. Her hands were sore; strained and burning slightly. It had been awhile since she had built up the familiar calluses that came with crossfit and lifting but she could already feel the rawness on her hands. She had, admittedly, let a large slice of her fitness fall to wayside once she stopped performing the ring. At least when it came to her stamina. She was sorely regretting it in that moment.

There were only three steps to the wooden box to finish out the WOD. 9 box jump overs. Her shoes thudded softly on the top as she landed. She had tried to take note during the workout if she was feeling any soreness, especially with such a heavy target on her lower body. So far, so good.

She was six in when she paused, bending over with her hands resting on her knees, trying to take a quick second to catch her breath. She glanced up and to her right, catching a glimpse of Seth sitting on his box, watching her.

Of course he was done. _How long has he been done?_ She wondered. She hated that he was always a step ahead of her. It wasn't a competition but she still hated it.

"How many you have left?" he asked his voice louder than normal to reach over the sounds of the gym and the music.

"Three."

"Let's go, knock em' out."

She shot a small glare in his direction and then sucked in a deep breath to do exactly what he said; knock em' out.

Marek gave her a warm smile and enveloped her in a strong, one armed hug as she approached him once she and Seth had wrapped up their workout. It was a playful smile. She returned it, making a face as he squeezed her shoulders and then stepped back from him to slip on the long sleeved, thin, pullover shirt she was holding in her hands.

"How did that go?" he asked.

"Well I didn't die so there's that."

"It looked like a lot of fun from my comfortable spot right here in this empty ring. Your form was excellent."

"How do _you_ get away with having your own little observation deck and not slaving away with the rest of us?"

"I'm the boss. I also have a broken back. Both of those things are great bargaining tools."

"Perks," she grinned.

Seth approached them and Marek nodded as he joined the pair. "Time to assemble the troops?"

"Yeah let's give Jenn a proper introduction." He cast his gaze on Jenn and handed her the extra shaker bottle he was holding.

"Post workout?" she questioned, taking the shaker and giving the contents a quick sniff to detect the flavor before taking a sip. Pink lemonade; it wasn't the worst flavor she had ever tasted.

"Mmm, you never did come prepared. 'Colbs can I use your belt? Colbs do you have any recovery? Colbs can I borrow your wrist wraps?' It's good to see I was right when I said that nothing had really changed." He shrugged lightly, playfully, chuckling at the eye roll she responded with.

"You make it sound like I'm helpless," she mumbled taking another sip of the drink. "I was just always comfortable; I knew I could depend on you so I didn't have to worry about it."

"Uh huh," he smiled, teasing.

"That also wasn't what I meant when we had that conversation."

"Whichever way it was meant, I was still right," he shrugged again. He gave a head nod towards the ring, "after you."

"You aren't always right about everything."

She let her statement hang in the air, stepping away from him and moving to climb in to the ring. She pulled herself up by the ropes and then dipped underneath, stepping on to the familiar bouncy canvas to stand next to Marek.

"He's already irritating me," she stated under her breath.

"Welcome to my world," Marek countered.

They shared smiles and Jennings could feel the quick warmth of the moment overcome her. Despite any trepidation she had about starting on this venture with Seth, she had never doubted how nice it would be to have Marek back in her life. It wasn't like they had ever stopped being friends, she had even dropped in on a few of his matches before he had followed suit and hung up his boots for good, but to spend with him again felt good. He was the voice of reason, the brother that had been missing in her California world.

"I don't like to do the whole speeches or whatever thing here but I figured I should at least give you guys some kind of introduction to the strange face over here," Seth stated, interrupting the small banter between Jennings and Marek and quieting the handful of students.

"The face of WWE doesn't do speeches?" Marek teased.

"Shut up," Seth shook his head. "I know you all probably know Jennings; she's known as Jewell in WWE for whoever wants to keep kayfabe alive around here. She's our new coach and she has been friends with Nick and me for a really long time. We learned how to wrestle together, we trained together, came up through the ranks together, blah blah and if you need any other kind of resume you can look her up on YouTube or the Network. Listen to her, though; treat her like you would the two of us. Respect her. She's an excellent wrestler and she's excellent all around."

"So are you coming out of retirement?" the brunette girl of the two girls spoke up and asked.

"No, at least not outside of this, not right now," Jenn answered. "I'm just lending a hand."

"You want to say anything?" Seth asked her.

"No, I think you covered it."

He nodded and turned his look on the students again. "Alright that's that. Run the ropes, get warmed up."


	5. Another Sunday In September

**I'm so sorry that I've been so MIA from posting! Life has gotten kind of crazy: work changes, a new gym schedule, and going back to school and I have just been SO tired that I curl up with my iPad and Netflix and fall asleep as soon as I'm home every night.**  
 **I haven't forgotten about this story, though, and I promise that more is on the way! I have ideas and I'm finally falling back in to a schedule/rhythm where I can write! So I hope you'll stick with me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Another Sunday In September**

 **You know you don't have to check up on me…** Jennings sent back a text response to Seth, followed by a series of side eye emojis.

It was mid afternoon on a another Sunday in September where she found herself on the road and in a new gym, flanked by her friends Becky and Charlotte, knocking out her workout for the day before grabbing lunch and making it to the arena for call time. She had finished up before the other girls. That was one thing she cherished about their bond. They were there for each other but they knew how to do their own things at the same time.

She had grabbed her post workout drink mix and topped off her shaker bottle with fresh water while checking the text messages she knew she had gotten during her workout based off of the vibrating notifications on her wrist.

All three of them had been from Seth. Not that she minded that they were from him, but she was slightly miffed by his rapid fire questions he had sent through separate messages.

 _ **How are things going this morning?  
How do you feel after your workout? Did you get your weight up?  
You're going to be at RAW tomorrow, right**_ **?**

She had responded and then retrieved her notebook to fill in her weights and times; sitting crossed legged on top of an empty box while she waited for her two compadres.

 **I'm checking IN WITH YOU. There's a difference.** His response came back.

 **There's zero difference.**

 **One is something a doting dad or manager would do and one is something a friend does.**

 **You're pretty much a doting manager AND also a friend so it's still a zero difference…**

He responded back with a middle finger emoji and she laughed out loud, shaking her head.

"What's got you over here laughing with such joy?" the thick accented voice of Becky Lynch broke through the air.

Jennings lifted her head from her phone screen and looked up at Becky. "I'm just giving Colby a hard time and having too much fun doing it."

"As you should," Becky responded.

She smiled brightly and moved the few steps that closed the distance between them to take a seat next to her friend on the box.

"What's this?" Becky asked, pulling the notebook out from under her, she had sat on the edge of it. "Are you taking a cue from me and writing down your life story?"

"Are you writing my life story, Becks? That's awfully sweet of you!" Jenn quipped.

"I deserved that," Becky nodded, pouting slightly.

"It's a workout journal; it has my programming in it, you can look at it if you want. It's not a secret or anything."

Becky flipped it open and started to look through the first few pages of detailed workouts.

"This looks like Josh's type of stuff."

"It is," Jenn looked over her shoulder at her friend. "Colbs set me up with it, courtesy of Josh."

"Welcome to the club but why?"

Jenn had turned her attention back to her phone, another text coming in, and she shrugged as she spoke. "That's just what we do. We bond over this stuff; being in the gym, wrestling. We're just…reconnecting I guess and he wanted to help me so this is what we do. This makes him happy."

"Help you?"

"Mhmm," she nodded and turned to look at her friend again. "I'm just trying to get abs like you."

"These abs are born from plants, my love, you can't get them in a gym."

"So you're saying that I have to get on the Rebecca Quinoa plan?"

Becky gave her a friend a silent, almost shocked 'o' face at her quick response back to her. "I can't believe I hadn't thought of Rebecca Quinoa yet. I'm so ashamed."

"You have full permission to use it," Jennings laughed.

Jennings could hear her mumble a muffled ' _Rebecca Quinoa'_ exclamation under her breath as she shook her head.

"But really," Jenn interrupted her, "I don't know I just wanted to get myself back in better shape again and Colby offered to help. It was good timing, all of it."

"Any particular reason why?" Becky smiled.

Jennings cut her a slanted look before glancing towards Charlotte who was making her way towards them, "no."

"Mm, I don't believe you."

"What do we not believe?" Charlotte asked, coming in to earshot just in time to catch Becky's response.

"Jenn and Rollins have a secret," Becky answered.

Jennings cut an unamused look from one friend to another. "There is no secret."

"I'm not sure I believe you," Charlotte interjected, smiling.

"You just got here. You can't good cop/bad cop me without knowing what's even going on."

"He hand wrote a workout plan for her and they're hanging out. They're _reconnecting_."

"What kind of reconnecting?"

"Reconnecting like trying to be friends again; he's helping me get back in shape a little bit and I'm helping him with a little training at his gym."

"Oh now there's _wrestling_ involved! The story has changed!" Becky excitedly stated.

Jennings rolled her eyes, " _fine!_ Sheesh, you're like a little gnat just buzzing around me. You really want the full, whole truth then I'll tell you all of it, ok?"

Becky's face settled to a more serious look, "Oh…I didn't think there was actually a secret."

"Well there is," Jenning's inhaled deeply and trailed a look from friend to friend again. Charlotte's face was as equally serious as Becky's. "It's…I don't know, I don't know how to even really tell you guys. I haven't told anyone yet. I mean clearly he knows but that's it…"

She trailed off and looked up in to Charlotte's concerned eyes. She could swear she saw her lean forward slightly, anticipating whatever it was her friend was about to spill to her.

"What's really going on is… _nothing_. I'm fucking with you guys. There's no big secret."

Becky exhaled loudly and playfully pushed Jenn, glaring and then grinning. "You had me. I was sold."

"Well that's what you get for making a mountain out of a mole hill."

"You're mean and rude, do you know that?" Charlotte questioned, laughing lightly.

Jennings shrugged, "I've been called worse."

"In all seriousness, though, it's good to hear that you two are doing _something_ ; being friends again. I know it's been…rough waters with him."

"Mmm, well, I appreciate that. I'm not counting any chickens just yet but we'll see how it all goes."

"At the least you'll have some abs of steel, right?" Becky chimed in.

"Yes and if you two are done, let's go ruin these future abs of steel with one last pancake binge before I skip shows, ok? We've earned it and I need one more tea party."

The next day, Jennings found herself entering the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, her eyes adjusting to the change of bright afternoon sunshine to the dark of the arena. She flashed her name badge to the security guard at the door and then continued in to the belly of the tunnels to find the locker room to discard her bag. She had hopped a flight that morning, leaving behind her last live show at Smackdown and her two partners in crime, to start her in ring run on the titular Monday Night Raw.

It didn't take long to find the locker room. She dropped off her luggage and slid her phone in to her back pocket of the black skinny jeans she was wearing and began her trek through the arena. She was on a mission: get to the ring. She had a production meeting in a little over an hour but one thing she always loved to do before the live shows was to spend a little bit of time in the mostly empty arena as the superstars ran through their matches. It was there, and catering, where everyone usually congregated to socialize.

And the hair and makeup tables.

It was there that Seth found her. She was hugging Finn Balor before he turned to walk away when he entered the arena from the back stage arena. She had settled back in her seat by the time he made it to her.

"Hi you!" she greeted him with a smile.

"So you're here," Seth replied.

"Did you not believe that I was going to be here?" she chuckled.

"No, I just wasn't sure if you'd made it here yet."

"You hadn't asked."

"Mmm, well I didn't want to be accused of _checking up on you_ too much like a 'doting dad' or frienager would."

Jennings rolled her eyes and scoffed at him. He laughed at her very visible response as he took a seat in the empty padded chair next to hers.

"Firstly, you're very annoying with that whole smarmy throwing things back in my face attitude. Secondly, there's a difference between asking if my flight went okay and hounding me about my workouts. Thirdly, frienager?"

"Just write down a guidebook for me so I can remember what I can and can't do, how's that?"

"Annoying."

"Same to you." He responded and leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs. They sat quietly for a few seconds, watching Sasha and Emma in the ring as they talked through their upcoming match that night. There wasn't a strain in the air; both of them could tell that the jesting was in fun. He glanced to his left, stealing a glance of her in his peripheral vision before sitting back up straight and settling in the chair.

"I miss this," she stated out of the blue, breaking the silence between them.

"Sitting in annoyed silence next to me or…?"

She looked at him, a mixture of a glare and a smirk playing on her face. "I'm not annoyed."

" _Oh_ -kay," he replied, smirking.

"I just miss _this_ ," she continued, motioning her hands to show she meant everything. "I think there was a part of me that had gotten disenchanted by everything for a while. The people I were super close to for the most weren't around and then once I realized I was being fully transitioned out of the ring I just…tuned it out. If there wasn't a big bump or something I wouldn't even pay attention to matches sometimes."

He nodded slowly, acknowledging what she was saying and agreeing. "I can relate to that; I've been there. Watching everybody do something you can't do or used to do…you get kind of detached from it."

"Yeah and I'm sure it showed in some things and I feel bad about that but…" she trailed off and shrugged.

"Like with Nathan?"

"No," she snorted, "that was a whole different set of problems. Nothing would have saved that."

"I can also relate to that."

"I just meant in how I interacted with people, how much I put in to work, maybe even the fans some but I don't know…I feel like I would've heard about it if someone thought I was a twat head. Ever since Summer Slam, though, it's been different. I'm more tuned in to things and watching the matches closely and I feel so much better; lighter I guess."

"You're excited about something again; something you love. It's a good feeling. It's a good look on you, I can tell you're…excited. Except for when I'm annoying you."

"I guess sometimes the things you love _really_ _do_ come back to you," she smiled wistfully towards the ring.

Sasha and Emma were both climbing over the ropes to head towards the ramp, finished until their match came around that night.

"I really want to be back in there and do well. I know that all these girls who are here now are fantastic. I just want to be part of it, and be _good_ , and not just be some eye candy that says some names."

"Don't worry about the ring stuff; that's my job to worry about that. You're going to be fantastic and incredible because you always have been."

"I'm glad you're helping me."

"You're very sentimental today."

"I know," she chuckled, "I blame it on Ash and Becks. They got all in their feelings about me leaving for RAW and I think it's all carried over. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize."

They fell in to a shared silence, Jennings uncrossing and crossing her legs again, as they watched the collection of people mill around.

Seth shifted in his chair and Jennings started to speak but before she could get a full word out of her mouth, they were interrupted by an enthusiastic Dean hopping over the soft barrier and landing softly on his feet in front of them, wiggling his eyebrows at the pair.

"Hi, Jon," Jennings smiled, standing up to meet him for a hug.

"I heard that our little Jewel was going to be here today," he said, "welcome."

"Yeah I'm back on the red team for now."

"I also heard you're going to be traveling with us again, so welcome back to that, too. I still claim rights over the back seat."

"Now wait a minute!" she exclaimed in protest, throwing a look at Seth. "I never agreed to be travel buddies with you two."

"I was going to ask you…" Seth stated.

"And I definitely never agreed to be all time shotgun rider. I've traveled with you guys before, I know how this goes. I have other offers on the table, you know."

"We're grown men now, Jenn, things have changed," Dean argued.

Jenn frowned at him.

"Besides it's just been me and him lately and somebody else needs to pay their shotgun dues of keeping him awake and changing to the next crappy song he wants to listen to. It'll be fun. I'll throw in my wife as a bargaining chip; I'll get her to travel more. You know you've missed us; or at least me."

"My music isn't crappy," Seth interjected.

They both frowned at him before Dean gave a pout to Jennings.

She sighed heavily, glancing from the two men, her friends, before settling on Dean. "What if we trade off- one night for you, one night for me, and we paper rock scissors for the third night."

"Whoever gets the back buys the snacks," Dean added.

"Within' a budget because I know how you two are."

"Deal," he said, extending his hand.

Jennings laughed and shook his hand before she turned her smile on Seth. "You gotta stop telling people I'm going to do things or help with things _before_ I even know about them, you know?"

"I was going to ask."

"Speaking of my wife, she told me to send you her way when I saw you, she's in catering."

"Why didn't she just text me?"

"She likes the drama of a personal message delivery," Dean shrugged.

Jennings shook her head and rolled her eyes slightly but reached out to hug her friend again. "It's gonna be good to be back with you."

"Ditto."

She motioned for Seth and he stood, letting her give him a quick hug as well. "I figured you earned one, too."

"Were you going to tell me something?" he asked as they parted from their hug.

"I was but I can tell you later, it wasn't important."

He nodded and let his eyes follow her as she stepped away and rounded the barrier.

They watched her hurry away in silence before Seth turned his own frown on his friend. "You have bad timing you know that?"

"Wha- I said hello," Dean defended.

"Horrible timing," Seth muttered and shook his head before nodding towards the ring, "come on, it's our turn."

* * *

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	6. I'm Trying

**Guess who is baaaaaack? Maybe? Here's an update.**  
 **I have zero excuse for the long absence other than I have just had zero inspiration and zero time.**

* * *

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Jennings mumbled to Seth. She lifted her eyes from her ipad and looked at him in the dark of the car.

"I'm trying to figure out where you got a quesadilla from," he answered.

Jennings had her iPad in her lap, scrolling through various social media platforms to catch up on the thoughts from that night's live show and a small cardboard pizza container balanced on her leg, a gooey, cheesy, chicken quesadilla tucked inside of it.

"I know people," she smiled.

"I can't even get catering to put bacon on a burger for me and you get specialized items?"

"One of the cooks has a thing for me. I flirt with him and he gives me special treatment." Seth rolled his eyes. "Don't get jealous over there, I'll get some bacon thrown your way."

"It's irritating how 'in' you are sometimes."

"Same to you."

She caught another eye roll from him in the dark and she bit back a smile. He glanced at his phone that was settled in the cup holder between them when it vibrated and the screen lit up and quickly returned his eyes to the road. A silence settled for a few moments.

"You're kind of moody tonight," she stated.

"I'm tired," he replied.

"You sure that's it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Everything just kind of catches up from time to time. This, black and brave, the extra workouts and training-"

"Even Crossfit Jesus gets burned out," she interrupted, wrapping up his statement for him.

"Something like that," he chuckled.

Jennings cast a quick glance towards the backseat before giving him her attention again. "We can skip training this week. I can do my own thing at home and you can get a break from me. I have Nola's birthday on Thursday anyways."

"I thought you just wanted to switch your day to Wednesday."

"Yeah but if you want a break it's fine. I'm not trying to hog all of your free time…or burn you out."

"You aren't and you won't."

"Seriously, Colb, it's not going to hurt my feelings."

"I'm serious, too. And yeah you can just cancel if you want to…but you can't," he responded.

Jennings frowned at him. He added a small shrug, "I have a surprise for you this week so I need for you to come to Davenport."

They were well over a month in to working out together and training and two weeks in to the traveling trio of Seth, Dean and Jennings. They had settled in to a routine already; Jennings letting her deal with Dean slide and spending most of her time occupying the shotgun position so she could chat with Seth. She had forgotten how good it could be to just hang out with him, driving in the dark, and just talk or silently listen to music.

"I don't know how to feel about this," she said. "Like a gift surprise or make me run until I puke surprise?"

"A surprise is a surprise, just leave it at that."

"How do I prepare though? Should I bring something special to wear? Should I pre-game with a dose of ibuprofen? Do I not eat so I'm not full?"

"Jenn," Seth stated simply and smiled.

"What?"

"Just come as you are, like you always do. Bring Mo with you if you want to. Just relax."

"You know I'm just going to obsess about it until Wednesday."

Seth responded with a chuckle.

"I am too, bro, so can you at least tell me what it is when we get to the hotel?" Dean interjected from the back seat.

Seth's eyes cut to him in the rearview mirror and Jennings turned and looked at him, laughing softly, as he sat up in the backseat where he had supposedly been sleeping.

"Do you just lay back there pretending to be asleep and eavesdrop on everything we say?" Jennings asked him.

"Not all the time, no. Sometimes you're boring. I already know you're training to come back to the ring though so it's not a big deal," he shrugged.

"Renee?"

Dean smiled, "congratulations by the way. I'm a little hurt you didn't ask for my help, though. I always felt like we were a pretty solid team."

"She wanted someone who has two good arms," Seth chimed in, alluding to the injury that Dean had been working through over the last couple of weeks.

"Fair enough but I have two good knees so really, we're even."

"There's nothing wrong with either of my knees," Seth countered.

"There is far too much testosterone stirring up in this car right now," Jennings mumbled.

"Welcome to our world. Embrace it, Jenn," Dean said. "This is what happens when you spend all of your time with us."

"Right because neither of you had any part in strong arming me in to traveling with you," she countered.

She watched Dean and Seth's eyes meet in the mirror and then they both shrugged.

"I'm not really sure what you're talking about, darlin'," Dean stated.

"Yeah, couldn't be us," Seth added.

"You probably mistook us for your girls on that other roster."

"We would never strong arm you in to doing anything."

"Not our style at all."

"We're mild mannered; gentlemen."

"Honestly, we don't even really like you."

Seth snickered and then met Dean's eyes again, "okay that might have been too much."

"She has to know the truth sometime bro…"

Jenn looked from one to the other as they traded quips back and forth. "I hate both of you and I really hope that you know that."

"What is it girl, hmm?" Jennings chuckled as she crooned at her dog who had just sat up in the passenger's seat of her Jeep and looked out the window. The brown dog turned a look on her and then turned her attention out the window again as a low bark rose from her. "Do you see Colby?"

It was Wednesday afternoon and after a morning with her sister, Jenn had loaded up her car with her gym bag and dog, and made the trip to Davenport for the now weekly training sessions.

She has just pulled in to a parking space at the Quad City gym, next to Seth who was just climbing out of his black Tesla.

Mocha barked again and propped her paws on the window sill, her tail aggressively wagging through the air and brushing against Jennings' arm.

Seth grinned when he heard the bark and was opening the car door within a few seconds.

"Hey Mo Mo," Seth crooned, scratching the dogs head with both hands.

Jennings rolled her eyes and chuckled again. "It's kind of rude to just open somebody's car door you know?"

"I was being beckoned," he countered. "How'd she do with that drive?"

"She was fine. She slept most of the time."

Mocha put her paws on his chest to lick his face and then burrowed her nose between his body and the car door, pushing past him and jumping to the ground to meander her way across the parking lot and investigate her surroundings.

"What about you? How was your drive?" he asked, turning his eyes on her after watching Mocha for a second.

"Oh, I'm glad you care about me, too," Jenn quipped, smiling.

He frowned at her.

"It was fine," she added, answering his question. "I've been anxious this whole time though because I can't handle not knowing what ridiculous 'surprise' you have planned."

Seth grinned at the statement and wiggled his eyebrows, "you'll see."

She rolled her eyes at him and finally turned the key in the ignition, turning the car off. "Let's just get this over with."

Seth's surprise that he had been holding on to, and holding over Jenning's head, for the last five days, had been his mom. Deep in to their WOD Jenn had looked up from her doubled over position, sweat dripping to the rubber matted floor, and spotted Holly crossing the gym, smiling and greeting students as she went. Jennings had completely abandoned the workout at that point, ignoring Seth's laugh, and greeted the woman who had been a second mother to her with a fierce and sweaty hug. It had been far too long since Jennings had really gotten to see her and the extent of how much she had missed her swept over her body before she even realized it.

Seth had asked her to stick around a few times after workouts, suggesting dinner, but he had never brought up Holly, and as much as Jenn didn't want to admit it, it hadn't crossed her mind. This was a good surprise. A very good surprise.

A few hours later, she found herself seated across from Seth at the dining room table at his mom's house. Any empty glass of wine and empty plate sat in front of her, laughter induced tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as the group reminisced about trouble that Jennings, Seth and their group of friends had stirred up in their teenage years. Mocha and the family dog and settled at their feet, done with the night and sleeping without a care.

"I didn't know, ok? You didn't tell me that you had spun four different lies to four different adults, I just wanted my phone charger back," Jennings defended, referring to a night she had mistakenly gotten Seth and Marek busted for driving to Minnesota for a concert.

"I never fully trusted you again after that," Seth chuckled, shaking his head, "I was grounded for so long."

"And yet you still lied all the time," Holly sent him a frowning but teasing look.

"It was part of my charm," he grinned.

Holly shook her head and rolled her eyes. She pushed her chair back from the table and began to reach for her husband's plate and drink glass.

"Mm, let me help you," Jennings said, moving to join her.

"You can hang out," Holly countered.

"I can but you know I won't," she smiled. She reached out for Seth's plate, meeting his gaze quietly, and then turned to follow Holly in to the kitchen.

Holly reached for the dishes Jennings had in her hand, taking her place in font of the sink to wash them off.

"Are you going to go behind me and move everything around if I help you put these in the dishwasher?" Jennings teased.

"No, I'll be happy for the help," Holly smiled.

They were quiet for a few moments, handing the dishes between them.

"Speaking of happy, I'm happy to see you," Holly mentioned, "I'm happy to see you two getting along. I didn't want to point it out while everyone was together, but it's really good."

There has been brief 'what have you been doing with your life' discussion over dinner but none of the parties had touched on the subject of Seth and Jennings getting the band back together. It was unmentioned and glossed over. Jenn had preferred that.

Jennings smirked, "we're working on it, but it's good…it's nice. It's been fun to be back in the gym and training, I hadn't realized I missed it as much as I did. And him too, I guess, but don't tell him I said that. I missed you much more."

Holly smiled, "Colby won't tell me what your match is going to be."

"That's because I won't tell him," she laughed, "don't share, but they're going to do a women's rumble, I'm going to re-debut in that and hopefully it'll carry over to a full time role."

"Jenn! That's going to be incredible." "Right?"

"And my lips are sealed, I promise."

They both looked up to the kitchen window when there was a flash of lightning outside. Jennings frowned at the clear sign that a storm was rolling in. The last thing she wanted was to drive home in a storm.

"Hey," Seth appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, "I know you two are catching up without me and I respect that but we might want to head out shortly."

"Are you going home tonight?" Holly asked, her eyes going slightly wide as she turned her look on Jennings.

"I planned to."

"You can't make that drive in the rain, hun, you know I'm not going to let you do that."

"I've driven in worse out on the road, I'll be alright."

"No, you won't, stay here," Holly countered and turned her gaze on Seth. "He has 3 empty rooms over there. There's no reason for you to have to go."

Jennings and Seth exchanged a look across the kitchen.

"You know you're always welcome, Jenn," he said.

"I..yeah, I know, I just didn't want to assume and impose or anything, I'm fine really..." she shrugged and stuttered, clenching the dish towel in her hands.

"It's settled, no more arguing, you two go and get out of here," Holly smiled. Jennings pursed her lips in to a weak smile, briefly, and then brightly smiled at Holly, meeting her in another fierce hug. "I expect for you to be around more, ma'am."

"I absolutely will be."

They shared goodbyes and after rousing Mocha and getting the sleepy dog out the door, she and Seth walked the small distance down the driveway to his car in silence. The wind was picking up and cooling things down, the rain was definitely close.

They were quiet for a few minutes as he backed out of the driveway and started out of the neighborhood, his XM radio station playing quietly and filling space in the car.

"You don't actually have to stay if you really don't want to..." Seth started, breaking the silence.

"I don't mind it, I don't really want to drive home in a storm anyways," she replied.

"Why are you irritated then?"

Jennings sighed, "I'm not...not irritated. I don't know, I don't know how to explain it Colbs."

She shrugged in the dark, not caring if he could see it in the dim light cast by the radio and various buttons on the dashboard.

"Can you try?"

There was another sigh, this one a little longer. "Sometimes I just get reminded of," she paused for a few seconds, "of finding out that you'd been hiding this huge secret from me and that you had lied and thrown me under the bus. 'I never trusted you again', yeah, clearly you really didn't."

It was his turn to sigh heavily. "You know I didn't mean it that way."

"I know you didn't but it doesn't mean I can stop from feeling it, because I did feel it. It makes me second guess all of this."

"If you're second guessing if I trust you then yes, I absolutely do trust you. I wouldn't be doing this, I wouldn't have pushed for this if I didn't want to get that back. So that you didn't second guess yourself."

"I'm trying."

There was another silence that settled between them, minus the music still filling the void in the atmosphere and the sounds of Mocha licking a paw coming from the back seat.

"I'm just tired, I think," she finally said, breaking the ice that had started to settle. "I'm tired and I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, I get it, but...just don't hold the past against me forever."


End file.
